Across the Universe

What better way to depict the Vietnam War era than with tunes by the Beatles?

In this musical, Jude, a lad from Liverpool, jumps ship to America to meet the father he never knew, but that leads to a journey of events and friendships he never expected.

We see how the 60s affects the lives of Max, an ivy league dropout who unwillingly gets drafted into the war, and his younger sister Lucy, as well as their later roommates Sadie, a Janis Joplin-type singer, Jo-Jo, who's sorta like Jimi Hendrix, and Prudence, a little Asian lesbian just looking for someone to hold her hand.

On their adventures thru the 60s we come across Eddie Izzard in an amusing number where he's a sort of psychodelic circus ring leader, U2's Bono as author Dr. Robert (think Hunter S Thompson), and Salma Hayack as an army nurse.

It was amusing - some of it was genius, some of it was trippy, and it was fun too.

Not exactly one for the whole family, as there is some violence and nudity, but definately for those that like the Beatles or the period it's set in and can appreciate it.

Dan in Real Life

Steve Carell stars as Dan, who is a widowed father of 3 girls, ages 17, 15, and 10 and writes a weekly column in the newspaper in the fashion of Dear Ann, giving parenting and life advice to those that ask. His 17 year old daughter wants to drive, claiming that her instructor says shes really good, and his 15 year old just wants to spend every waking moment with her boyfriend, whom she's passionately in love with after only dating for 3 days.

On a trip to visit family and relatives for a sort of fall break in Rhode Island, he meets a woman at the bookstore that he instantly clicks with, only to learn later in the day that shes his little brother's (Dane Cook) newest girlfriend.

Given the cast, one might assume that this is a comedy, but not so much.

It has subtle humorous moments and the characters get put in some ackward moments that the viewer will find amusing. But it's more a heartfelt movie of a widower picking up the pieces of his life and moving on, focusing on what's important in life and finding happiness with those around him.

Saw IV

Like the tagline "It's a Trap" for this one states, it certainly is a trap... to keep on raking in the money and making more. If I had a dollar, no make that a dime, for everytime in the past 2 months I have heard some variation of the phrase "OMG they made a Saw 4?!" I'd be rich. Brace yourself folks, OMG there will be a Saw 5... and 6... and at least a 7, according to rumors that they wrote at least thru number 7 after they finished 2.

But onto the review! part IV leaves off right where 3 did... sorta...

without giving too much away, this one we see multiple interrogations of Jigsaw's ex-wife and learn a little bit about what drove him to his insanity of becoming the derranged 'killer' that he was as well as his first 'trap' and 'victim'. The last 5-10 minutes were just 1 twist after the other, linking together this trap with all previous ones in the first 3 installments. The whole time we're trying to figure out who the latest accomplice is in the Jigsaw murders, since we know it's not Jigsaw himself or Amanda, based off what happened in part 3. It also shows us the test of the SWAT team cop who's been in all of them up to this point (in minor roles so you probably never noticed him) who wants to save everyone but needs to learn that sometimes, you just need to let people save themselves.

Donnie Whalberg (Marky Mark's lil bro, or 'the bad boy' from NKOTB) is back reprising his previous role of Det. Eric Matthews, and he was actually pretty amusing.

If you've seen the previous 3 and don't mind them, then feel free to continue on in this series, if you haven't seen any or are tired of them dragging out the plot just to make money off ya, don't bother, you really don't miss much. The 'gore factor' is about on par with the previous installment - there's the medical gross factor they implimented in part 3, as well as the usual odd 'methods' of teaching the victims a lesson.

The House of Yes

It's based off a short play and stars Parker Posey, Freddie Prinze Jr, and Tori Spelling. It's thanksgiving in the early 80s and Jackie-O and her family havent had guests in years. Older brother Marty comes home to celebrate the holiday and brings his new fiance with him, causing crazy sister Jackie-O (as shes referred to) to go a bit more psychotic that usual. The plot deals with incest and the effects it can have on a family as a whole. All the characters are pretty deep, having their own hidden agendas and skeletons in the closet. Excellent acting by Parker Posey though. Given the subject matter, it was a pretty interesting film.

Michael Clayton

Very good if you like character developement, plot and dialogue. George Clooney stars as the title character who is basically this law firm's fixer upper guy when it comes to legal troubles (or janitor as he refers to himself). When working on a case, the firms represenative on it comes across some incriminating evidence against the company and illegal chemicals used in their product and so he secretly starts building a case against them to blow the whole thing into the open. He comes off looking a bit crazy though and goes a bit too far... Clayton picks up on it and realizes what his collegue was doing, and attempts to finish what he started.

30 Days of Night

It was pretty good for a vampire movie, with an interesting premise - in Alaska, some of the towns have complete darkness for 30 full days, what would happen if vampires showed up for a non-stop feast on those remaining? The vampires were pretty cool looking - all Nosferatu-esque. There was one scene where we just couldn't stop laughing (if ya see it, think of the convenient store part with the little girl). I only counted jumping a total of 3 times, so while it was good, it wasn't *too* creepy. Ben Foster (from 3:10 to Yuma) is probably my current favorite creepy bad guy - he plays it oh so well! It's also based on a graphic novel and I guess it stuck pretty much to it, only changing one part slightly but producing the same results. We're predicting this one to be better than Saw IV for Halloween this year.

The Game Plan

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson stars as Boston Rebels quarterback Joe "The King" Kingman. He lives the life of a celebrity, having a huge bachelor pad covered in memorbilia of not only himself, but Elvis as well. Despite what the father on the team tells him, he thinks he has "the life." Then, after a huge new years party, the next morning a little girl named Peyton shows up on his doorstep, claiming to be his daughter from his short-lived marriage and will be staying with him for a month while her mom is in Africa. Over the course of the next few weeks, Joe goes from being a bad dad, leaving his daughter unattended at a nightclub opening, to being a concerned parent, looking after her and actually taking part in her life and the things she enjoys. Then comes the twist, where all is not as we think it is.

The little girl that plays Petyon is adorable and steals the show, holding her own against the other football players, Joe's agent Stella (Kira Sedgwick for tv's "The Closer") among others, while The Rock shows just how charismatic he can be.

For a Disney family film, it was pretty cute and clever. I'd recommend it for a family night.